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Cadillac's Boss: No, We're Not Cutting Prices To Counter Slumping Sales

By William Maley

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  • Johan de Nysschen Is Standing Tall With Cadillac's Current Pricing Structure

Cadillac's president isn't planning to cut prices to reverse the trend of slumping sales for the brand.

"We cannot deny the fact that we are leaving behind our traditional customer base. It will take several years before a sufficiently large part of the audience who until now have been concentrating on the German brands will find us in their consideration set," said Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen in a interview with Automotive News.

"Either you have to bring your volume aspirations into alignment with reality and accept that you will sell fewer cars. Or you have to drop the price and continue to transact at the prices where you were historically. I think the logical conclusion is that it's better to build off a very solid base in terms of [product] credibility, charge a fair price for the car and realize you have to wait until the volume comes."

Some Cadillac dealers and analysts believe the pricing strategy that the brand has taken to be in line with such competitors as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz is hurting the brand. But de Nysschen is confident in Cadillac's lineup and believes that the brand's legacy buyers will give way to import buyers who are interested in the brand thanks to a better customer experience and a more fleshed-out portfolio.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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    Grand Master

    G. David Felt

    Members

    This is the right move and I also agree that while there are still plenty of baby boomers who are buying those that only would consider German or Asian brands will find as more and more positive products hit the market and come to Cadillac as they see it is in deed a superior product.

     

    Dealerships who want to be a Chevy seller need to move onto those products than. Those dealerships are also not much on service or about the customer experience. We need dealerships that will cater to the luxury car buyer. Too many dealerships tend to try and go middle of the road.

     

    This is not what I expect from my Cadillac dealership.

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    • Newbie

    ZL-1

    Members

    "Either you have to bring your volume aspirations into alignment with reality and accept that you will sell fewer cars. Or you have to drop the price and continue to transact at the prices where you were historically. I think the logical conclusion is that it's better to build off a very solid base in terms of [product] credibility, charge a fair price for the car and realize you have to wait until the volume comes."

    He's 100% right. However, I fear that GM's way of doing business is not compatible with this...

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    • Agree 1
    Enthusiast

    William Maley

    Editor

     

    "Either you have to bring your volume aspirations into alignment with reality and accept that you will sell fewer cars. Or you have to drop the price and continue to transact at the prices where you were historically. I think the logical conclusion is that it's better to build off a very solid base in terms of [product] credibility, charge a fair price for the car and realize you have to wait until the volume comes."

    He's 100% right. However, I fear that GM's way of doing business is not compatible with this...

     

     

    I have that same fear as well.

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    • Mentor

    smk4565

    Members
    (edited)

    Cadillac doesn't need to cut prices, they are still priced below a lot of their competitors.  What they need to do is add more content, and get an 8-speed transmission, more fuel economy or performance, more features, etc.   Just make the car better to justify the price, if anything I would say they should increase the ATS and CTS by $2,000 each and stop selling the base models that are probably fleet deals anyway.

     

    Look at the base prices:

     

    A6          $44,800  (front wheel drive model)

    CTS        $45,100

    5-series  $49,750

    E-class   $51,400

    GS          $47,700

    Q70        $49,600

    Edited by smk4565

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    • Community Regular

    regfootball

    Members

    I get that he wants that status of the German marques, but i think one thing that made Cadillac unique was its customer base, the fact that they had dealerships in areas where others didn't, and it wasn't really about snobbery.

     

    I guess if they want to cater to the punks who just got their license and are trust fund babies, fine.  I like that Caddy wasn't trying to be a eurolux clone.

     

    I do agree that if the pricing is going to be held up, then yes features and content need to be better.

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